Green Building Project Round-Up

Every so often, it’s nice to take a look at some of the big green building projects around the country and look to see how things are catching on. The higher the profile, the more likely we’re going to see increased enthusiasm for green building and, hopefully in turn, an exponential spread through the market. Manhattan looks to be getting a green addition to its skyline in the form of One Bryant Place. The Crystal Palace-inspired 56-story tower will add a graceful touch to blocky Manhattan, and do so in a most eco-friendly way. Incorporating heavy use of natural light, as well as numerous setbacks that allow the planting of green roofs, the very structure of the building allows for many efficiencies not present in most of its neighbors. And while several microgeneration strategies were studied and discarded, the building was built with them in mind and ready to retrofit should, for instance, the efficiencies of photovoltaic solar panels rise. The Air National Guard Readiness Center on Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland is set to get a major expansion, and the building expansion will be USGBC LEED-certified. The ANGRC, administration center for the federal end of the states’ individual Air National Guard units, is consolidating its presence at Andrews over the next couple years as part of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), and looked to make the federal government a green building customer, a move we’ve long advocated here for the health of the green building industry. Ohlone College of Newark, California is getting a new health and technology center at a cost of $60 million. The project, which the college hopes to be certified LEED Platinum, will be complete and ready to inhabit in the next few weeks. Representing a growing trend on the west coast for nearly every new project of any profile whatsoever to go for LEED certification, the Ohlone College building is just another feather in California’s cap as they continue to lead the way, and provide an example, for the rest of the United States. The entire city of Arlington, Virginia seems committed to green building–to the point that builders who choose not to pursue LEED certification are charged an additional thirty cents per square foot which goes into a green building outreach and education fund. With twenty LEED-certified projects complete or in process, Arlington looks to be a green beacon on the East Coast.

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